Cong leader and cabinet minister Sis Ram Ola dies

Labour and employment minister Sis Ram Ola died at a Gurgaon hospital on Sunday.

The 86-year-old Congress leader had been admitted to the Medanta hospital in Gurgaon for treatment of an eye infection and a cardiac problem around 45 days ago, officials from the hospital and his office said.

"He died at 4am on Sunday due to heart failure," his office said.

Ola is survived by his wife Shiv Bai, two sons and a daughter.

Born July 30, 1927, the Jat leader represented the Jhunjhunu constituency in Rajasthan and was a member of the state assembly from 1957 to 1990 besides a cabinet minister in the state government from 1980 to 1990.

He received the Padma Shri in 1968 for social work.

He was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1996 and then again in 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2009.

Ola was appointed a cabinet minister in June this year, in the hope of political gains in the Rajasthan assembly elections in November, but the Congress was routed in the state elections and lost power to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Earlier, Ola was the union minister of state for chemicals and fertilisers (Independent charge) from 1996 to 1997 and the union minister of state for water resources (Independent charge) from 1997 to 1998.

He was the also the union minister of labour and employment from May 23, 2004 to Nov 27, 2004.

His son, Bijender, is an MLA from Jhunjhunu and a former minster in the Rajasthan government.

His second son, Surjeet, runs a school - Indira Gandhi Balika Niketan - in his native village Ardawata of Rajasthan.